American Idol Weekly Rundown-Top 11

Last night was a pretty big dud in the entertainment department. Why did they have to do another Beatles week? How very dull. Anyway, as it stands, here is my take.

THE BEST:
1. Syesha - She performed "Yesterday" in a very contrived but emotional way. It was lovely and pretty memorable-especially when paired w/ the rest of the comparative tripe that came our way last night.

THE GOOD:
2. David A.-definitely a far cry from last week's chaos. The bright and shiny David gave us "The Long and Winding Road" in a very nice way. It was melodic and well-sung, even if it did sound a bit 'musical theater' at times. I could tell he was forcing it a bit and the desperation was kind of apparent. But it's nice to hear him do well again.

3. Kristy-sang "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" and I felt it was her best performance in spite of the bad choices in arrangment and a few flat notes. I finally heard her actually SING and understood why she made it to the finals at all. She seemed comfortable w/ her performance as well and not afraid to belt it a few times. The judges were not impressed, however, and this could be the end for Kristy.

4. David C.-Thought it definitely didnt compare to The Bad Brains rendition of 'Day Tripper', I actually liked the arrangment. He sang it pretty well. His downfall was his self-confidence which bordered on blatant arrogance last night. Throwing picks into the crowd, the 'Frampton'-style voice box etc...bad decision. It's still
a contest at this point.

5. Carly-sang 'Blackbird'. It was pretty and she has a great voice. But still kind of a 'molehill' after last week's 'mountain'.

THE BAD:

Amanda-'Back in the USSR' was not a very good choice, I felt. It was a little safe and I too am getting a wee bit tired of her schtick. I like how unassuming and unwilling to change she is, however. She really milks the audience and pays little attention to the judges-which is kind of refreshing.

Michael- The song choice was bad. 'Day in the Life' is a bit of an epic and not suitable for condensing into 1 and 1/2 minutes. It sounded rushed and indeed it was. Also, though he sounded great at the beginning-he hit some really sour notes in there as well.

Brooke-"Here Comes The Sun" was again, absolutely the wrong choice. Without her piano or guitar, she looked really awkward and self-concious. And then she tried to dance around a bit, which looked even more desperate. The delivery of the song could have been worse, but the performance was far too distracting to notice many good points.

Jason-"Michelle"...hate the song. But anyway...that's neither here nor there. Jason performed it very strangely. It was okay if you were just listening to it, but watching it was kind of painful. He looked so odd up there clinching the microphone stand like Edith Piaf. And when he started walking, it was all a little 'hey, how's your steak?' for me. But Simon is right; he's got a great face.

Ramiele-It was very 'Libertyland' for me. "Should Have Known Better" was a nice peppy choice for her but she looked extremely uncomfortable trying to keep time in those stillettos. And the high waisted pants and hat brought to mind a little polynesian leprechuan. heh heh. Her vocals were okay but I thought she was better last week...when she was just boring.

THE UGLY:

Chikezie-Wow. Top to bottom in one week. I think the problem is that poor Chikezie took the judges' praise too literally. While, they admired his funky southern song arrangment last week; they did not say he needed to do it again. When he started doing 'I've Just Seen a Face', it was nice but I had a problem w/ the steel guitar. Then he shot it all to heck by upping the tempo and relegating the tune to something out of a friggin' hoe-down.